An importance measure for multistate systems with external factors. (November 2017)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Dui, Hongyan; Si, Shubin; Wu, Shaomin; Yam, Richard C.M.
• Is Part Of: Reliability engineering & system safety. Volume 167(2017)
• Page Start: 49
• Page End: 57
• Publication Date: 2017-11
• Subjects: Reliability -- Importance measure -- External factor -- System performance -- Multistate system; Reliability (Engineering) -- Periodicals; System safety -- Periodicals; Industrial safety -- Periodicals; Fiabilité -- Périodiques; Sécurité des systèmes -- Périodiques; Sécurité du travail -- Périodiques; 620.00452
• DOI: 10.1016/j.ress.2017.05.016
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0951-8320

Abstract

Highlights: A new importance measure considering the impact of external factors is proposed. Evaluation of system performance based on the proposed importance is explored. Calculations of the proposed importance are discussed. A case study is offered to illustrate the applicability of the measure. Abstract: Many technical systems are operated under the impact of external factors that may cause the systems to fail. For such systems, an interesting question is how those external factors and their impacts on the system can be identified at an earlier stage. Importance measures in reliability engineering are used to prioritise weak components (or states) of a system. Component failures and the impact of external factors in the real world may be statistically dependent as external factors may affect system performance. This paper proposes a new importance measure for analysing the impact of external factors on system performance. The measure can evaluate the degree of the impact of external factors on the system and can therefore help engineers to identify the factors with the strong impact on the system performance. A real-world case study is used to illustrate its applicability.